LA cops accused of cutting power to marijuana clinic, planting guns

Two former Los Angeles County deputies were charged Wednesday in connection with allegations they switched off electricity at a medical marijuana dispensary, disabling a surveillance camera and possibly planting firearms there.

Julio Cesar Martinez, 39, and Anthony Manuel Paez, 32, were
initially charged with conspiracy, perjury, and altering evidence
although court documents obtained by the Los Angeles Times show that each was charged
with two felony counts Wednesday, conspiring to obstruct justice
and altering evidence. Martinez also faces additional felony
counts of perjury and filing a false report, the paper noted.

Prosecutors said each ex-officer faces more than seven years in
state prison if convicted in connection with the August 2011
incident.

The trouble began when Martinez and Paez filed a report claiming
they were on patrol on West 84th Place in Los Angeles, California
when they watched a drug deal take place. One of the suspects
appeared to be carrying a gun, the report said, and when the
officers gave chase the suspect allegedly fled into a medical
marijuana dispensary.

Martinez asserted that, upon entering the dispensary, he
discovered a gun in a garbage can and a second firearm on top of
a desk near ecstasy pills. Each of the two would-be offenders
were arrested, one charged with possession of an unregistered
firearm and another for possession of a controlled substance
while armed.

The Los Angeles District Attorney later announced that the
charges against the two men were dropped when the police
department’s Internal Criminal Investigation Bureau opened an
investigation into the event and found video footage from inside
the dispensary that was “inconsistent” with the officers’ report,
prosecutors told the Times.

Court officials refused to go into any more detail, although Los
Angeles police have in past incidents proven to be willing and
able to fix surveillance devices when the footage, audio or
video, may not suit their need.

An unrelated LA Times story from earlier this month
reveals that an internal LAPD investigation discovered that an
estimated 40 out of the 80 cars in a single patrol division in
south Los Angeles were missing the antennas used to capture
officers’ field communications.

LAPD Chief Charles Beck and other department brass were informed
of the issue nearly a year before it was discovered by Internal
Affairs, choosing to not only keep quiet on the matter but also
not investigate which officers were involved and issue a
department-wide advisory against meddling.

Police commission President Steve Soboroff told journalist Joel
Rubin that his oversight board only learned of the problem in
recent weeks.

“On an issue like this, we need to be brought in right
away,” he said. “This equipment is for the protection of
the public and of the officers. To have people who don’t like the
rules to take it upon themselves to do something like this is
very troubling.”